Instagram launches Boomerang mini-video app

Instagram has launched a new app, Boomerang, which allows users to create and share mini-videos.

Boomerang takes a burst of five photos and stitches them together into a one-second. The video loops, much like a gif, plays the images backwards and forwards for a "Boomerang" effect.

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The app automatically saves the video to a user's phone. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Boomerang does not have a newsfeed on which users can share their videos, although they can be automatically shared on social media. The new app doesn't require an Instagram account to create or post videos.

Boomerang has been compared to Phhhoto, a photo-looping app that many referred to as a contender to Instagram's throne. In April, Instagram cut Phhhoto off from the friend-finding feature of its app.

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The app could help Facebook-owned Instagram keep pace with Snapchat, which has recently added a raft of new features. Snapchat now allows users to add filters, stickers and emojis to its images, and the platform recently announced that it had exceeded 100 million daily users.

Instagram have been widening their offerings for some time, with two standalone apps released to complement the main Instagram app. Layouts allowed users to create collages of images to upload to Instagram, and Hyperlapse, which created time lapse videos.